The Case of the Missing School Supplies List

Here's a terrible start of school confession - I am a pack rat. When I receive mail, I stick it in a pile on a bookshelf in my den and then fish through it to find important things, like overdue bills, property taxes, checks, 20% off coupons from Lord & Taylor and the letters containing the names of my kids' new teachers. I also store things in that pile like the mandatory school supply list of items that I need to purchase for my son for his very first day of kindergarten. My daughter is already taken care of because I forked over a check back in June guaranteeing all of her supplies would be purchased and delivered to us before school starts - it hasn't arrived yet - but I'm not getting nervous...yet.

My son's situation is a different story entirely. I remember seeing that supply list numerous times and then, without warning, it just went missing. Someone (probably my husband but I'm not pointing fingers), in a fit to keep me organized - trust me there is organization in my monster pile - decided to do a little house cleaning, and now I can't find the most important piece of paper I'm going to need to keep me (and my son) from appearing as if we are total screw-ups for not following the rules.

I keep trying to trigger in my mind what the list said to bring that first day - paper towels, giant box of crayons, fisker scissors, washable markers, glue, apple juice, four peaches, aluminum foil...wait that's my shopping list. I even went to our school website and while I found all the school supply lists from Grade 1-Grade 5, the Kindergarten list was nowhere to be found. I guess I could either go on another school website that lists the supplies for their kindergarteners and buy all the supplies from that one instead. Or, I could always call one of the other moms in the class and admit that I've already failed miserably in the school preparedness category but why should I already admit that I'm completely disorganized on day one and risk being labeled a bad mom before we've even set foot in the door?

When my daughter was a kindergartener, I was so good - purchased the supplies at least a week in advance and had a closet full of adorable outfits for her to wear for the school year. But by the time baby number two came along, my procrastination gene kicked into high gear and I'd wait until the last minute to get both kids whatever they needed to get them prepared for school, extra curricular activities and birthday parties. But the one thing I never did, was lose lists. That is, until now.

I've pretty much scoured the entire house and I'm officially about to give up. The list is gone and I'm going to have to admit defeat. I will have to either have to ask his teacher for the list or I'll call a cool parent who can relate to my lack of organization skills who may be willing to share their copy of the supply list so that I don't look like a total fool when we walk in hand in hand into his classroom as he sports his brand new "Hello My Name is Trouble" shirt from Tar-jay.

And what about my third grader who is supposed to be receiving a delivery of school supplies that hasn't even arrived yet? I'm hoping that package will miraculously appear too, and if not, it looks like I'm going to be spending my Labor Day, cruising the aisles of Office Depot buying out the entire school supply section - hey, we may wind up with double the supplies if her mystery package ever arrives - but I'm sure if I put away in a safe place, they can use it for next year too. That is, if no one else in the house decides to move it to an undisclosed location.